The U.S. Department of the Interior is seeking public comment on giving leases for solar and wind energy. The Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) just published its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register. The goal is to engage the public over the federal government’s interest in obtaining efficient regulation for the process of acquiring competitive leases on public land for renewable energy development.
The push for leasing the public lands comes on the heels of a recent burst of rapid growth in the industry. The United States has seen renewable energy grow to almost four times what it was in 2008, which is more than it has grown in the previous 40 years.
The public opinion the BLM is seeking the best way to offer public lands via a nomination and competitive process rather than the old right-of-way application. The current process limits competition through an overlapping application process. Under the new process, the BLM hopes developers will have fair access and the land will be leased at a fair market value.
“The renewable energy resources on America’s public lands are enormous,” stated Bureau Director Bob Abbey in a press release. “The competitive options we are evaluating are part of our commitment to improving the process by which we provide access for responsible renewable energy development while providing a fair return for the use of the public lands.”
The public comment period will last 60 days and will end on Feb. 27.
In 2008, only 1,800 Megawatts (MW) of the U.S.’s electricity came from renewable sources. Under the Obama administration, in the past two years the Department of the Interior has approved an additional 6,600 MW of new renewable energy projects, which will power an additional 2.3 million homes or about 2 percent of the 102 million American homes.
The projects include 16 solar plants, 7 geothermal plants, and 4 wind farms totaling 27 newly approved renewable energy projects. They include all the transmission and lines and associated roads, which are on public lands. Additionally, job growth is expected in these fields in the construction and operation of these projects.
The Department of the Interior also recently approved the construction of transmission lines connecting two renewable energy plants: the Centinela Solar Energy Project and the San Diego Gas & Electric Imperial Valley Substation. Both plants exist on private lands, but the transmission lines would cross federal lands needing BLM approval.
The 230 kV (kilovolt) transmission line will connect Centinela and San Diego Gas & Electric crossing 19 acres of public land. Centinela, a subsidiary of LS Power could generate up to 275 MW of solar photovoltaic power for American families.
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